Sui Huang, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Cell and Molecular Biology; Feinberg School of Medicine
Research Program
Cancer-Focused Research
To identify complex phenotypic markers for malignancy, we have studied the morphological distinctions in nuclear structures between normal and cancer cells. We identified the perinucleolar compartment (PNC) to be one of such a marker. PNC is an irregular subnuclear structure associated with the nucleolus, predominantly forms in advance transformed cells and a high PNC prevalence in primary tumor correlates with a poor patient outcome. We believe that PNC formation reflects milestone changes in cancer cells that confer metastatic capability. Thus, PNC prevalence could serve as a tumor marker for malignant potential of a given cancer cell population.